WHEN I CAME HOME

DC Premiere

Herold Noel is from Brooklyn. In his neighborhood, it's a big deal just to get out. As an Army infantryman, he was in the first battalion deployed to Iraq. He was only 19 when he left: naïve, only halfway hardcore about anything, definitely unprepared for war-boot camp notwithstanding. Babies with bombs on their backs broke his heart.

On the homefront, the soldiers are touted as brave warriors, defenders of democracy, "our men in uniform," an Army of one. We should all be proud of them, love them, support them, do everything in our power to get them back home. But when Noel got home, there were no programs in place to support him. No post-traumatic stress counseling. No anger management classes. Not even a check for services rendered-NOTHING. After months of bouncing from Veterans' Affairs to whatever city agency was supposed to help and sleeping most nights in his car, he and his family were days away from being truly homeless.

How can that be in one of the greatest cities in the world, in one of the greatest countries in the world? Easy-because those charged with the assignment failed. The irony of this cautionary tale of naïve patriotism, simmering cynicism and systemic social service ineptitude is that after all was said and done, none of it produced a place for him to live. Not even media exposure of the unspeakable treatment of Iraq war vets produced any shame, apology or explanation from the system. Ultimately, an anonymous citizen responded. There's a bright idea: responding to the legitimate needs of others when it is well within your power to do so. Sounds like the role of good government.

Hate the war. Love the vets. Somebody has to.

-Michele Renee Brown

DIRECTOR BIO
Dan Lohaus is a graduate of The School of Visual Arts in New York City, has worked with documentary filmmakers Les and Harrod Blank, and was the assistant editor on the award-winning documentary ON THE ROPES (1999). Dan has also started two non-profit organizations which employ homeless individuals.

Print Source:
Dan Lohaus
Lohaus Films
809 8th Avenue
#3R
Brooklyn, NY 11215
dan@whenicamehome.com
718.386.9692

PRECEDED BY...NEW ORLEANS FURLOUGH
Amir Bar-Lev
USA, 2006, 10 MINUTES

A disoriented soldier returning home from Iraq wanders New Orleans after its destruction by Hurricane Katrina.

Print Source:
Friday Films
7 West 18th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10011
212.518.8517
amir@axisfilms.net

6/17 at 4:45 PM

FILMS BY: TITLE | DATE | COUNTRY | INTEREST | SECTION